Time to Move on
by iluvzuzu
Summary: Rose listens through the bond to a conversation between Lissa and Christian. Post Shadow Kiss. Oneshot. Sad. Much less boring than it sounds. Basically spews my opinions of Richelle Mead's evil doings. Please read & review.


"She left me here," Lissa said for the billionth time. "She just… _left _me."

"I know, Liss." Christian sighed. This was obviously tiring for him. He'd never liked me, I knew, but those few weeks while I was guarding him had actually made us behave like friends. "Look. When she's done what she needs to do, she'll be back." He put his arm around her and pulled her close to him, lightly pressing his lips against the top of her head. "You know Rose. She can't stand being away from you."

"She loves him more than me," Lissa said quietly.

"That isn't true," Christian chastised, and I was actually shocked that he was defending me. Usually with those two, it was the other way around. "She just loves you both in different ways. You're her best friend, Lissa, her sister. No man could replace the relationship you guys had."

"I know that… but still. She just dropped out of school, just like that, to go after _Dimitri._"

Hearing his name out loud, even if it was spoken by some other mouth in some other place, a million miles and years away from me, twisted my heart. I felt myself break just a little bit more. But I kept myself in Lissa's head, hearing Christian continue. "Rose and Dimitri were always like that, though. They both hated evil so much. Rose is just trying to protect him from himself. I get it, you know?" Though the look on his face clearly said he hated my guts for leaving his precious girlfriend in her time of need. But it wasn't her time of need: It was Dimitri's. It was mine.

"Do you think she'll do it?" Lissa asked what felt like an eternity later.

"Mm?" Christian replied sleepily, nuzzling his cheek against her hair.

"Do you think Rose will kill him?"

Christian took a breath, then let it out in a rush. "I don't know. Rose is strong as hell, I'll give her that. But I don't know if she could kill that guy. Not because he'd kill her first—in fact, I'm almost sure he won't. But I just don't know if her heart can take it. You saw her when she heard—you could watch her heart breaking right in front of your eyes."

"What do you mean, you're sure he won't kill her first?"

"Strigoi," Christian said, "seem to be soulless. They hunt, they find, they kill. But I saw my parents, Liss. They still cared about me, even when they were Strigoi. They came back for me. And that thing with Natalie last year? I heard about that. She tried to kill Rose because it's what Dashkov wanted. She was still willing to do anything for her father, because she still loved him. Strigoi are evil, maybe. But not soulless. And even though their hearts don't beat, they still have them. Dimitri won't kill Rose, not if he loved her. And from what I saw between those two, he did. So don't worry about Rose getting hurt, Liss. She'll be fine."

Lissa was quiet. Then, slowly, softly, she said, "You think so?"

"I _know _so. I may be hard on her sometimes, but she's one of the strongest people I know. If she's really going to kill him, she'll do it."

I felt tears on my face, but I knew they were Lissa's. Shakily, she said, "Christian? If I turned Strigoi… would you kill me?"

I felt Christian's breathing differ. He wasn't going to cry. He was _Christian Ozera. _Christian Ozera didn't cry. He swallowed. "Would you want me to? Me, and not Rose?"

"Yes," she said, the word barely above a whisper. "Rose loves me. I know that. But it's like you said. There are different kinds of love. I don't know if Rose will ever come back, anyway, but I think… I think I'd want it to be you. So, tell me: Do you love me enough to kill me if you had to?"

"Lissa," he said, his voice strained, "don't talk about this. You're not going to turn Strigoi. It won't happen."

"I'll bet that's what Rose thought about Dimitri."

They were sitting against a wall in the attic of the church. I watched through Lissa's eyes as Christian leaned his head back against this wall, watched his Adam's apple move up and down and he swallowed again. Watched as he closed his eyes and let a single tear run down his cheek before he wiped it away with his shoulder. "I'd do it for you."

Lissa kissed his cheek tenderly, her lips taking a second tear from his face. "I'd kill you too, Christian."

She meant it as a joke, to cheer him up a little, but I could tell from her thoughts that she meant it. It had the desired effect, though, because he gave a choked laugh and kissed her hair again. "I love you," he said, his words slightly muffled.

"I love you, too."

"Always have," he gave that sardonic little smirk, but his eyes held that adoration they always did when he looked at Lissa.

"Always will." They sat in silence for a moment longer before Lissa said, "Do you think she's in my head, now? Listening?"

"If she is, you'd better tell her to stop. If she's gonna kill the god, she'd better get a battle plan together."

"If she was listening, she heard you."

"I'm right, though, aren't I, Rose?"

Yes. He was right. But I didn't have a way to tell him so. Lissa added, "Don't be so insensitive, Christian!"

"I'm not being insensitive, I'm being honest."

Lissa laughed, and Christian soon joined in. I liked listening to them laugh, despite the fact that I'd originally tried to stop them from being together. They sounded… happy. Thing was, if I couldn't be around to protect Lissa, I was glad she was with someone like Christian. He'd take care of her. I trusted him with that. I hoped he knew it.

I pulled myself out of Lissa's head, regretting it as I did so, because the sunshine and warmth of the attic was gone. Now there was nothing but cold and dark—not just in the air around me, but in my soul. I knew what I had to do. Christian was right: I needed a plan. I stood up from where I'd collapsed of exhaustion on the street to nowhere, and I felt the wind stinging my cheeks. But something was too cold on my face. Touching it, I realized that the tears that had been shed back in the attic hadn't just been Lissa's. They'd been mine, too.

I wiped my face clean with my jacket sleeve, taking a deep—albeit shaky—breath in. Crying was _so _not on the list of things I needed to be doing right now; moving on was.


End file.
